Different Trajectories
by DarknessWithout
Summary: How do you rekindle lost love? A grand gesture, of course! But life isn't a rom-com, and Cody's ill-formed idea leaves him stranded in Chicago with nowhere to go. Still, bad ideas can sometimes lead to good outcomes.
1. Day 1

Cody had made a lot of mistakes in his short life, all of them haunting him to various degrees. It was the loss of his first love that hurt him the most, and that mistake was currently leading him on an adventure. At least, that was what he wanted to think of it as. For some reason, it made him feel silly, like one of those odd people who thought going grocery shopping was somehow an adventure. This wasn't even remotely similar, though. He was on an airplane flying to another country to try to win back the love of his life.

Ever since the split, he couldn't stop thinking about them together. Two years later and he still got flashbacks whenever he'd see couples holding hands in public or whenever he'd drive by the small coffee shop where they'd had their first date. The frequent nights filled with longing weighed heavily on Cody. Not all of those feelings centered around his first love, but enough did that he was convinced there was only one way to feel right again. Gathering from every romance movie he'd ever seen, he came to this conclusion; a grand gesture was his best bet at getting the girl.

What did he know about grand gestures? Not a whole lot, actually. He knew they were expensive and unexpected, but that's it. He'd never had much of a mind for romance despite all his big talk.

His shirt stuck to his back, drizzled with sweat. The girls sitting beside him were talking: obnoxiously loud, but Cody was too lost in thought to catch any of it. He sat in the window seat, so he had a perfect view of the approaching ground—they were landing soon. In just a few minutes, he'd be setting foot in Chicago, his first foray into the United States. Here, two years ago, his high school girlfriend moved on with her life. A very generous gift from her grandparents and an even more generous art scholarship to a prestigious school in Chicago guaranteed that they'd split up.

"_I'm sorry Cody, but I can't pass this up. This might be my only shot at doing what I love._"

The words echoed in his head. Even though Cody knew Gwen had nothing but compassion, they still hurt a lot.

"_You're going to college, too. I don't want either of us missing out on opportunities because we're worried about each other._"

He sighed. He felt the plane's wheels touch down on solid ground. His heart slammed against his ribs, sending out a rhythmic tune through his ears. He let himself get caught up in the flow of passengers disembarking from the plane.

Taking in the surroundings, Cody was a bit disappointed. His first experience of the US was an airport. It was a big airport, but it was still just an airport. Should've figured. Besides, this trip wasn't for pleasure. He had one goal in mind: Gwen.

He passed through customs and got his luggage. He packed very lightly, fitting everything inside a single backpack of modest size. Pulling out his phone, he double-checked Gwen's address. He had found it some months ago on her university's online directory. In the back of his mind, he knew it was a little creepy to look up where she lived, but he figured that it was fine since the directory was available to the public.

He copied the address for Gwen's dorm, opened up his Uber app, and started searching for a ride. In just a moment, the app popped up with his driver's information and his pick up spot. The driver wasn't too far off, but the trip would take over half an hour. Geez.

He made his way outside to the spot with a few minutes to spare. The air was comfortably chilly. Comfortably chilly meaning about freezing, but as a Canadian, it was soothing to his nervous body.

Sitting down near the curb, Cody absentmindedly flipped through his phone, checking Gwen's Facebook profile. They were still friends, though they hadn't talked in months. Her profile hadn't been updated in forever. She made posts every now and then for special occasions, but for the most part, it was the same profile she had two years ago. Mercifully, she had taken out the part that listed them as in a relationship. He clicked on her photos tab. There were only about twenty or so photos from the past two years. A few pictures showcasing her proudest drawings she had done in college. A couple pictures with friends she had made.

Then old pictures of them together. Sappy situations with sarcastic captions. An overexposed image of them sharing a milkshake where she had commented "#letsgetmono". A video of him first learning to ice skate, falling continuously for fifteen seconds while holding desperately to Gwen's arm. "I'm always falling for you ;)."

The quick beep of a horn pulled him back to the real world. He looked up, frowning.

"Cody?" the driver asked, passenger window rolled down. He drove a dark blue Honda Civic, according to Uber. Cody didn't have much of an eye for cars, so he couldn't actually tell. It looked old but clean.

"Oh, yeah!" Cody said, standing up and approaching the car. He glanced at his phone. "You're… Noah?"

"Yes sir," the driver said, giving a tiny, two-fingered salute.

Cody opened the door and sat down in the car. The inside smelt like cheap pine-scented air fresheners. Otherwise, everything seemed neat and clean. His driver, Noah, gave a natural half-smile. His long, dark hair was pulled back in a short ponytail and he wore gray pants and a loose-fitting white hoodie. He pressed a button on his phone, which was mounted to the windshield via suction.

As they pulled off and began the drive, Noah started some small conversation. "Nicholson Court. You a student?"

It took Cody a second to realize what he meant. "No, just visiting someone."

"Family?" Noah asked.

"No… a friend."

"Cool, cool. You come out often?"

"Uh, no. This is my first time in Chicago."

"Exciting! Then I hope your friend is planning to give you the full tour. My advice? Skip the bean. It's just an ugly hunk of metal."

"I don't know if we have plans, exactly."

"You fly into a city you've never been to before with no plans? Now that's exciting."

Cody could feel the heat flushing through his face. "I guess you could call it that. It sounds a bit stupid now you say it out loud."

Noah chuckled. "No way, man! It's hardcore. I wish I could pick up and go off somewhere without thinking about it. That must feel so freeing!"

Cody grinned, if only for the fact that somebody had actually called him hardcore. How comically misguided. "I wouldn't call it that. It's more like… poorly thought out."

"No way. Chicago's scary when you first get to know her, but you'll get through it all right." Noah checked the map displayed on his phone. "So Nicholson Court. Do you need to go in the front or the back?"

Cody paused for a second before admitting he didn't know.

"Well is your friend going to let you in? Otherwise, you aren't getting in the front without a student ID."

"Then I guess take me around back? Are you a student there?"

"You really don't have any plans," Noah said, giving a short laugh. "I'm not, but I have a friend who used to live in those dorms. Just wait by the back door until a student comes through. They're not technically supposed to let you in, but nobody watches the back doors so nobody really cares."

"Oh. Thank you," Cody said. An uncomfortable silence crept over the two. At least, Cody perceived it as uncomfortable. Noah seemed fairly used to silence. Still, after several minutes Cody felt it was his turn to start the conversation. "If you're not a student, then what do you do?"

Noah grinned. "Can't you tell? I'm living the dream- full time Uber driver, no benefits, destroying my car to take drunks home from the bars every night only to be replaced by a robo car in five years."

"Oh… I'm sorry," Cody said.

Noah glanced over at the other boy. "Ha! Nah, man. I am a student, just not here. Studying English on the other side of the city. Not for long though—about to transfer to another school."

"Why? Won't you miss your friends?"

"Just not the right place for me. The English program is kind of garbage anyways. And yeah, I'll miss my friends. I miss my friends from high school, but I made new ones here. I'll miss them, too, but I'll make new ones wherever I go."

"Still, that's gotta be scary…"

"You're one to talk! You come to the third-largest city in the US with absolutely no idea what to do. I've wasted the last year of my life thinking over this change of scenery and planning for everything that could possibly happen. Don't you worry about me."

Damn. "I guess I should've been doing that before I came here."

Noah shook his head. "No way, man. Take it from me. When you plan and plan for a bunch of things that are never going to happen, you just end up wasting your time. I could have been out of here a long time ago if I wasn't thinking the whole time. Instead, I wasted a year running over my options over and over again. You got it right, man. No barriers, no wasted time, no plans."

"I guess. It'd at least help with the nerves."

"Wrong again. What I've learned is that life will always surprise you. 'The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.' You plan for life to come at you from all sides. You set up your walls. Then it drops a giant cartoon anchor on top of your head. It's better to be able to roll with the punches." Noah took another glance at the map. "You're up here on the right. Remember, you gotta walk in behind somebody. The door will lock behind them so remember to catch it. Nice chatting with you, man."

Cody looked out the window as they pulled up to the dorm. "Thank you so much!" he said, not turning to look at his driver. He opened the door and began to get out.

"Remember to leave a big tip. Life advice costs extra." Noah said back. After a few moments of blank stares from Cody, he added, "Joking. Good luck in Chicago, man."

"Good luck with your new life!" Cody said, closing the door. He realized too late that that was just about the oddest way to convey his intended message. Noah laughed in response, though Cody could barely hear it through the shut door. As the car drove off, Cody gave a small wave.

He was alone now, but his goal was right in front of him. Roberts, the dorm hall in front of him, was a gray eyesore. He had read very little about the building, but one fact that was mentioned whenever it came up was that it was designed by an engineer. Seeing it in person, it really was the best description; it was clear to Cody that whoever built it had never taken a class in design. It was little more than a concrete box with windows. He wondered why a rich and prestigious art college would have such a pallid, drab, ugly building, but that really didn't matter right now.

All Cody knew was that inside of that box lived the love of his life, and he was about to win her back.

He looked at the door ahead of him. Luckily, there was a somewhat steady stream of people coming in and out. Without wasting time, he fell in line behind a pair of students walking up to the building. One of them swiped a plastic card—their student ID—into a reader on the side of the door. One second later, a click sounded and they opened the door. Cody followed in shortly after them.

"Okay," Cody thought. "Second floor, room thirteen." The building opened into three hallways forming a T in front of him. To his right, he located a sign above a door indicating a stairwell, and he made his way up the stairs. Once he arrived, he found himself in front of room three. He counted off rooms until he came to his target.

Room thirteen. He sighed a breath of relief; Gwen's name was taped in bold lettering on the door. He made it to the right place. Now was the moment of truth. His only chance at fixing everything. He placed three quick knocks on the door.

Then he froze. He became acutely aware of his situation. His empty hands tightened into fists. He didn't have anything to give her. What kind of grand gesture didn't come with a gift? Not even flowers or chocolates. He had no idea how he planned this to go. He knew he wanted her to love him. He didn't know how he was going to make that happen. Did he expect her to jump back into his arms just because he came there? He knew she ended it because she moved out of the country, and they still lived in different countries. He began to regret the whole thing. He hoped beyond hope that she wasn't in her room, that she hadn't heard him knock.

But he heard a creak from beyond the door. Someone getting out of a bed. It was too late. What was he even going to say? That he knew how she felt about the relationship but wanted her to come back to him anyways? In a flash, he realized he was entirely over his head. He glanced down the hall and wondered frantically if he had time to get out of sight and pretend like it was a prank. He could feel his face burning up and hear the blood crashing through his ears. He had to get out of here.

The doorknob turned quickly, and the door opened. "Yeah?"

Cody breathed a deep sigh of relief, and one second later his heart dropped. Standing before him was not Gwen. It was a man with pale skin and dark hair, wearing only a towel around his waist. "Who are you? Is Gwen here?"

"I'm Trent. Nice to meet you, man. Sorry, Gwen's in class right now. Are you a friend of hers?" the man said.

Cody looked Trent up and down through narrowed eyes. "Are you her roommate or something?"

"Uh, no. I'm her boyfriend. Do you need me to take a message or something?"

"No. I'll just… I'll just text her. Thanks, though," Cody said, walking away from the door.

He set about wandering aimlessly through the hall, thinking to himself. Gwen had a boyfriend. She moved on. Why couldn't he see that? But her Facebook didn't say she was in a relationship. Of course it didn't, she barely posted on there. How could he be so stupid? Now he definitely couldn't win her back. That's not fair to her. It was one thing when he thought she was single. It was a dumb, silly, stupid thing, but this was different. He wasn't going to barge in while she's in a relationship and try to break it up. He had absolutely no right.

"Hey, are you okay?" A sudden jolt came from Cody's shoulder.

"Huh?" he said, dazed. Snapping back to reality, he found himself in a kind of lounge. There were a handful of chairs and sofas and even a pool table on one side of the room. A girl held him firmly with one hand.

"Are you okay? You don't look so good. Do you live here?" she said.

"I'm uh, fine. Um, no. I was just… visiting a friend. I'll go now," Cody replied.

"Are you sure? Why don't you have a seat? I'll get you some water."

Cody sat down while the girl went to retrieve a drink. He pulled his hands up to his face. It was still warm to the touch. He slowed down his breathing, counting one, two, three at each inhale. Soon enough, his heart started to slow along with it.

The girl returned with a styrofoam cup in her hand and handed it to Cody. "I'm the RA on duty. My name is Bridgette," she said. "Is there anything I can do to help? Do you need me to call somebody?"

"No, no. I'm fine, just a little flustered." Cody took a sip of the water. It was barely colder than room temperature, but it helped calm him down. "I'll be fine. I'll be gone in just a minute."

Bridgette nodded. "Alright, just let me know if there's anything you need."

He paused. "Actually, yeah. Do you know any events happening on campus tonight?"

"Um, yeah, sure. We have a bulletin board for events. There's not a lot going on, but I think… there's a charity show at the union in just a few hours." She handed him a flyer.

The silhouette of a woman, her hair done to the nines, dominated the paper. "A drag show?" Cody questioned.

"Yeah. Some student clubs are putting it on… Are you sure you don't want me to call someone?" Bridgette asked.

"No," Cody said. "I'm fine now. Actually, I should really be going." He stood up, making his way to the door. "Thanks."

And so Cody came to find himself at the front of the line in the union, waiting to see a drag show. It wasn't something he'd normally do, but he needed a distraction after the disaster that was his "grand gesture." At this point, he wasn't sure he could call it a gesture at all. It was just one big mistake.

He handed a girl ten bucks, an entrance fee, and was ushered through a set of large double doors. Everything was dark. Cody could only see by dimly diffused purple light that covered the entire room in a faint glow. He was one of the first in line, but there were still a handful of people sitting around in the rows and rows of chairs filling the room. He supposed they were people who worked on the show, or maybe just people who knew somebody working and got in early.

Still, there was plenty of room enough for him to pick whichever seat he wanted, so he sat in the very front row. The stage in front of him stood above the ground at about chest level, and it formed a catwalk with seats arranged on either side.

People trickled in steadily until there was hardly an empty seat. The show started. The purple light vanished from overhead, leaving the stage bathed in the white light. A girl came out on stage, clipboard in hand. She thanked the audience for coming and introduced the host. She must have helped put the show together.

The host was a drag queen by the name Grace Anatomy. Cody had never actually seen one in person, and the first thing that stood out to him was how tall she was. Larger than life, six and a half feet tall in heels, plus a platinum blonde wig that stands another four inches on its own. For a moment, she seemed an alien, an Ubermensch standing above him. Then, she opened her mouth. A clearly fake southern belle accent comically pitched up in a vain attempt to hide her male voice.

Cody giggled. Not because she had said anything particularly funny, but because this giant of a person who had intimidated him a moment before was now going on with a silly accent acting like she wasn't some kind of Amazon warrior towering over everyone in attendance.

Grace's role was primarily to introduce other queens, along with providing some token color commentary. Each queen would come out and perform a lip sync—a (more or less) choreographed routine where they'd dance and pretend to sing a song. It took Cody a while to really get into the performances. They seemed… incomplete to him. They weren't actually singing, so it was hard for him to buy into the performances. Still, if there was one thing that sucked him in, it was the spectacle. Even if he couldn't grasp the idea, he could get behind watching a queen in six-inch heels rip a dress while doing the splits on stage.

He watched performance after performance. A queen named Barbie Q. Soss, who took her song way too seriously for someone named after a condiment. A choreographed dance number by someone named Banana Kendrick. Cody even went up to tip a duet by Scarlett Fever and Typhoid Mary, if only because he found the names funny. Despite his initial reservations, he found himself cheering with each introduction and losing himself in the performances. If nothing else, they were fun.

Soon enough, Grace Anatomy came back on stage. "Well, it sounds like we've all had fun. I'd like to thank everyone who came to support our charity tonight, and all the queens for performing. Of course, none of this would be possible without our wonderful event coordinator, Courtney!"

A cheer went up in a small part of the audience to my right. I could faintly make out Clipboard Girl standing up from her seat and waving.

"We'll be concluding the show, but don't forget! The queens will be coming out for a short time if you want to ask questions or take pictures!" Grace gave a final wave and walked down from the stage. Slowly, overhead lights came on, casting bright white light on the whole room. Everybody started getting out of their seats and moving around, either out of the room or crowding around the arriving queens.

Cody felt better. This had been just the kind of distraction he wanted, but he still needed to think about what he was going to do. He had no plans, and his return flight wasn't for another three days. He pulled out his phone, trying to formulate a plan. It was now ten on a Friday night. Would he even be able to find a hotel in Chicago? He pulled up his contacts and opened a new message to Gwen. He felt beyond stupid asking her for help, but did he really have any other options right now?

_Hey. I did something really stupid. Call me?_

Send.

He waited for a few seconds, but he didn't receive a "Read" notification. He closed the app. It was stupid. Instead, he opened his browser and started searching. "Cheap hotels near me."

"Oh shit!" The voice pulled him up from his phone. "Cody?"

It was Grace Anatomy, looking down on him from what seemed like a mile-high pedestal. Cody blinked. "Um, yes?"

"That's crazy! It's me, Noah. Your Uber driver."

He stood, putting his phone in his pocket. "No way."

"Yeah way! You should have told me you were coming! I could've got you a free ticket, y'know."

Cody laughed. "Yeah, I guess so. I didn't really know I'd be here, though."

"Oh yeah, no plans. So, your friend take you here? Are they still around?"

His face tightened the smallest bit. "Actually…" He chewed on his words a second before continuing. "That sort of fell through."

"Oh, dude, what? What happened?"

"It's, um… complicated?" Cody said.

Grace nodded. "I get that. Do you know what you're going to do?"

"Weeellll…"

"Dude! Damn…" She pursed her lips tightly. "Listen, give me ten minutes and we can talk some more. Is that alright?"

Cody gulped. "Sure, I guess. I don't have any other plans."

"Ha! Righteous. I'll be back soon."

Cody watched as Grace walked over to a group of people and started chatting to them. He pulled his phone back out and opened up his message to Gwen. Still no indication that she'd seen it. Geez. He sat back down in his seat, heaving a slow sigh.

He slowly flipped through his contacts. There were very few people he told about this trip. He didn't want anybody telling Gwen and spoiling the surprise, but he also knew that they would've tried to talk him out of it. Maybe he actually knew deep down that this was a bad idea, but he didn't want anybody to help him realize it.

He saw Grace wave to the group of people she was talking to and walk out through a set of doors in the back of the room. Would she actually come back? Cody looked back down at his phone. He contemplated calling his parents. He knew they would help him no matter what, but damn would he never hear the end of it. He put his phone away, deciding to take things slowly. If he got desperate, he'd call them. Well, a little more desperate than he already was.

He took a look around. The crowds had largely disappeared, but the queens were still talking to a few people who had stuck around to take pictures.

"Excuse me. Are you waiting to talk to one of our queens?" It was Clipboard Girl. Courtney.

Cody turned to meet her. "Oh. No."

"Then I have to ask you to leave. We have to empty the mezzanine soon," she said, holding the clipboard tightly to her side.

"Actually, I was waiting for Grace," Cody added.

"Well, I'm afraid she's already retired, so if you don't want to see any of the other queens, I need you to leave."

His arms tensed. "Well, she said…"

"Down, Courtney. He's with me."

Cody turned his head to the source of the voice and let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah! What he said."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Alright, then. You should've just told me you knew Noah." She nodded curtly with a small smile and walked off.

"Hey! Sorry about that," Noah said. He was back down to Cody's level, maybe an inch or so taller. His hair hung loosely about his face, which was still covered in several layers of makeup, and he had changed back into his hoodie. He held a rather large bag across one shoulder. "Don't mind her. Courtney's a bit intense, but she's kind of the only reason we can do things like this."

"No kidding. I guess no harm no foul, eh?" Cody said.

"We actually do have to get out of here, though." Noah gestured to the exit, and the two began walking out. "So tell me about this predicament of yours."

Cody laughed a little, a hollow laugh that one might give after they've screwed up so comically that they can't deny it. "Yeah…"

"It's cool, man. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to," Noah said, holding the door.

"No no, it's just going to make me seem really stupid."

"Like I said, no pressure."

"It's cool," Cody said, taking a moment to run his words through his mind. "The friend I was supposed to see wasn't actually just a friend."

"Ex?"

"Yeah. I went to her dorm with this grand idea about us getting back together. I found her boyfriend there instead."

"Yikes. And she's the only person you know here?"

"Yeah. I figured I had to ask her for help, so I sent her a text. She hasn't responded yet, though."

"So you're stuck in Chicago with nowhere to go." Noah opened another door, this one leading outside.

The night air immediately flushed over Cody, pulling heat off his skin. They continued walking down the street. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Do you know where you're going to stay tonight? Do you have a hotel?"

"Right now? I don't exactly have a lot of money. I had this image in my head that I'd see Gwen, we'd fall in love, and then I could stay with her for the weekend. This 'no plan' thing is really biting me in the ass."

Noah frowned. "Don't think about it like that. What you need to meet a good samaritan."

Cody gave a quizzical look at the other boy.

"And by that I mean me. Feel free to say no, but you could always sleep on my couch."

"Really? Thanks, but… why? You don't really know me."

"If you're not comfortable with it, that's cool."

"No! I mean, it'd help out so much. It's just that I don't know why you'd help me."

He grinned. "It's divine providence, man."

"Divine providence?"

"Yeah. Listen, there are people who live in the same building as me that I've never seen, but you come into a city of three million people for half a day and I meet you twice. There's gotta be a reason, and right now, I think the reason is that you need some help."

They arrived at a blue Honda Civic and Noah pulled out his keys. "It's up to you."

"... Yeah. Thank you so much. That would help me out so much."

Noah smiled, popping his trunk and depositing his bag inside. "Don't worry about it. Get in."

Noah closed the trunk and the two boys got in the car. "Oh!" Cody said. "You're an Uber driver. I can pay you."

"Dude, no. Off the clock right now." He said, starting the car and beginning to drive. "You're my guest. Speaking of which, I have two roommates: Izzy and Eva. I don't know if you'll run into them, but it should be cool. Fair warning, though. They're a lot."

"I'm sure they're fine. Are you like, with one of them?" Cody asked.

"Pfffft." Noah laughed. "No. I'm a bit too, how would you say… 'gay' for them. Surprised you couldn't get that from the pound of makeup on my face."

"I didn't want to assume," Cody said. He was sure if it wasn't so dark out his blush would be painfully obvious.

"Guess that's fair."

Cody thought for a second, trying to change the subject. "Hey, I thought you didn't go to school here."

"I don't," Noah said, opening the center console. "Favor for a friend. Me and Courtney went to high school together." He dug around for a second before retrieving a small container. "Gum?"

"Sure!" Cody said. He could go for something sweet. Noah supplied him with a piece and took one for himself.

"Speaking of, did you enjoy the show?"

"Oh yeah! It was great. I'm not sure I exactly get the point of it, though."

"Huh? You didn't have fun?"

"No, totally. It was super cool."

"Then it sounds to me like you got it."

Cody chewed on the gum, running through his thoughts. "I guess I just don't understand why they need to lipsync when they're not actually singing."

"Oh, honey. Well… It's like this. Drag isn't just about pretending to be a girl. It's about going on stage and being someone I could never be in real life. It has a long and storied history, so I'll give you the short of it. Drag is about becoming something that society tells you you can't. The point of it isn't to dance to some Beyonce song. It's about living a fantasy. It's about being Beyonce."

"Is that why you do drag? To live a fantasy?"

"Oh no, I do it for attention." Noah chuckled. "Though I guess you can say that's kind of a fantasy. Nobody wants to pay money to see an Uber driver talk on stage, but people love watching Grace. She's a doctor, you know."

"I don't know. I probably wouldn't trust her with my health."

Noah gasped in mock offense. "I didn't go through twelve years of fantasy medical school for this disrespect."

Cody giggled. "My sincerest apologies."

Noah smiled at the other boy before allowing the car to fill with a comfortable silence.

Cody took the opportunity to check his phone. No response from Gwen. He wondered why, but eventually settled on the simplest answer. She was probably just asleep. It didn't matter, though. She was with someone else. He couldn't get in the middle of it now.

Noah pulled into a parking garage off the street. "We're here!" he said, stopping at a small machine to swipe a plastic card. "My humble parking spot."

After finding a spot, he got out and motioned Cody to follow. "My humble apartment building." He led Cody inside. Up two flights of stairs and down a hall, they arrived at room 308. "And here, my humble abode."

Cody's first impression of the apartment was that it was a little bit trashed. On the right was a small kitchen area. Each countertop was covered with junk: food, bags, receipts, and the like. The tabletop was similarly messy, but it had areas cleared out in front of the three seats surrounding it.

To his left was a sort of living area. An L-shaped couch, a large flatscreen TV and a coffee table covered in remotes, controllers, papers, and an expensive-looking laptop. "Sorry about the mess. Normally I'd clean before having company over, but, well, you know." Noah gestured over to the couch. "Feel free to make yourself at home. I gotta get this stuff off my face, I'll be back in just a minute."

Cody made his way over and took a seat on the couch. It was obnoxiously soft. Fortunately, that was just how he liked his beds.

It was so dumb of him to be here. Not only being in another country where he knew nobody but here, sitting on a stranger's couch. Not that Noah gave him any reason to doubt him, but he literally just met him today. He decided to add it to the long list of thoughtless decisions he had made today.

He was done tearing himself down about it, though. He was exhausted, emotionally if not physically. He needed to lay down and rest right now. As soon as his head hit the cushion, his mind started drifting off to sleep.


	2. Day 2, Part 1

Cody awoke with a start. He wasn't dead, and given the circumstances, that was all he could really hope for at the moment. He stared at the bumpy ceiling, tracing shapes out of the tiny shadows cast from the window. Dimly aware of the quilt covering his body, he blinked slowly, clearing gunk from his eyes. He pulled the quilt up and curled inwards. Despite being fully clothed and under the heavy cover, he still shook from the cold.

Slowly, noises filtered in through his ears. Grease popping and that annoying sound shoes make when they stick to hardwood floors. The smell of fried eggs. Cody shifted his body up to look over the back of the couch. In the kitchen, a woman stood in front of the stove. She was built like a statue. Long black hair tied back in a bun and earbuds in her ears. Cody thanked his lucky stars for the small mercy of not getting her attention. He'd much rather just pretend to be asleep. Waking up on a stranger's couch was an odd situation to find yourself in.

He slowly put his head back down and began to find shapes in the ceiling again. It was a little like seeing shapes in clouds. He tended to only see map shapes—the entire country of Italy floating in the sky. Or on the ceiling, as it were now. The real challenge is to come back later and see if you can find the same shape again. He did this for an uncomfortably long time, but he knew it'd be decidedly less comfortable to talk to this girl whose couch he was crashing. She looked like she could snap him in half with one hand tied behind her back and the other one also tied behind her back.

Over time, the sounds of cooking were replaced with eating, then the clang of dishes being put god knows where—but definitely not in the dishwasher where they belonged. Cody thought he could make out the sounds of her walking to her room, but he didn't hear a door. It was still too much of a risk to check if she was gone. He decided to check his phone instead. Still nothing from Gwen. He'd be worried about her if he himself weren't in a pretty sketchy situation. Well, his flight was only two days away now, so if he found a place to crash tonight, he could probably tough it out through the last night somewhere without needing to sleep. He definitely wasn't a stranger to an all-nighter.

A door opened, and the soft sound of footsteps on carpet came down the hall. "You're already up. Great!" Noah said. "That means we can figure out what exactly we're going to do with you."

Cody looked up at the other boy. He had his hair tied back and was wearing one of those blankets with sleeves you used to see on those obnoxious commercials. It was an honestly ugly brown, and Noah reminded him of a Franciscan monk wearing it. He was going to comment on it, but he stopped himself. They'd known each other for a sum total of around two hours and this wasn't the strangest outfit he'd seen Noah in. Instead, he picked a more innocuous topic. "It's freezing in here, man."

Noah chuckled. "Sorry. Heat's expensive. I would've given you more blankets but we only really have the one."

"I'm not complaining. Well, I guess I am, but," Cody said, digging his grave. "I mean, thanks for the quilt."

"Don't mention it. Now, let's get down to business. You have a return flight home, right?"

"Yeah. It's on Monday at 4, I think."

"Then that's easy. Izzy lets me do whatever I want, and I already talked to Eva. She says you can stay the weekend, but if you touch her stuff or wake her up, and I quote, 'you'll miss your spleen.'"

"Geez. That's harsh."

"Don't worry about her. She's just trying to sound tough. I know she loves me and would never hurt a friend of mine."

"I hope not. Is she the one who's totally jacked?"

"Yeah! Did you meet her?"

"I _saw_ her. I don't know that I'd say I've _met _her."

"Maybe you should," Noah said. He turned his head back towards the hall and raised his voice to be heard in the bedrooms. "Eva! Come meet our guest!"

A voice came back from the hall, low and strong. "Fuck off!"

Noah rolled his eyes. "I expected as much. She's a regular ray of sunshine."

Cody breathed in deeply. He was just relieved he didn't actually have to meet Eva. She seemed a bit too intense for his tastes. Just a little bit.

"Anyways, she did say that she didn't want you here alone, so if you want to stay I need to be around."

"That's fair. I really don't want to impose."

"Nonsense. Finals are over. I officially don't have anything better to do."

"Alright." Cody nodded. "Then you're really okay with me staying until Monday?"

"Dude, yes. In fact, make a vacation out of it. We can do whatever you want."

"Really? I don't know about that."

"Come on. You come out to Chicago alone on a whim, but you're indecisive now that you have carte blanche to do whatever you want? Quick, name something you've always wanted to do in Chicago."

"Um, I guess I'd like to see the bean?"

Noah looked at the other boy, incredulous. "You're killing me here. But I guess you're the boss."

Cody smirked. Truthfully, he didn't really know of anything to do in the city. "Sorry. Them's the rules."

Noah giggled. Cody found it… endearing, in a boyish way. "Alright, alright. I'm going to go change." Noah said. "You can use the shower at the end of the hallway if you want. The washing machines here cost $2.50 in quarters per load, so if you didn't bring a spare change of clothes, I guess you'll just have to be gross." He stood up and jogged down the hall to his room.

Cody looked in his bag. He actually had had the foresight to pack a single change of clothes. He gathered them and began the long journey to the bathroom. It was an exceptionally short hallway, but he was significantly perturbed by Eva's open door. He stopped just before it and inched his head around the doorframe. She had her back to him, pumping weights that he was certain he couldn't lift himself. Without fear of her seeing him, he rushed past the door, tiptoeing to avoid catching her attention. He passed the two other doors he assumed led to Noah's and Izzy's rooms and into the bathroom.

It was tiny and bare. Ugly striped wallpaper clung unevenly on the walls and the plain white shower curtain was pulled onto one side. Cody didn't waste time, though. He stripped and got in. He turned the knob. Icy water poured out, splashing over his feet. Groaning, he turned it to the other side. Still cold.

After about five minutes of tinkering with the faucet and waiting for the water to heat up, he finally managed to get it to an acceptable temperature. He switched on the shower only to be blasted with another wave of supercooled water. He jolted to the back of the shower, letting the water cover his feet. It took another five seconds or so for the water to warm back up, and he could finally take a shower.

It was relaxing, if not entirely necessary. He didn't find himself particularly dirty, but he still opted for the shower to blow off some steam. A small shelf stuck out of the wall just big enough to hold bottles of shampoo, and Cody perused the selection. He supposed he should've used Noah's since he was the one who offered to let him shower here. His main concern, however, was not using Eva's. Of course, there was no real way for her to know, but the mere implication scared him.

So he opted for the bottle of kid's shampoo, one of those highly childish things that had a little eye and smile on the side to make it look somewhat like a fish. He didn't know whose it was, but he was certain it wasn't Eva's. Besides, smelling obnoxiously fruity was way better than smelling like some unidentifiable generic "male" scent.

After cleaning himself, Cody stood under the stream, letting the hot water run down his body. He knew it'd be cold when he got out, so he sat there, savoring the heat for the little time that he could. He figured if he made enough steam he could heat the entire room.

He couldn't make Noah wait, though. If he was going to be a mooch, he should at least be a timely one. He turned off the water and got out. There was a dry towel on the rack; he hoped it was Noah's.

When he was finally dried and dressed, he emerged from the bathroom. Noah was moving things around in the kitchen. Cody looked at him with an eyebrow arched.

"I'm just cleaning up a bit. Making things a bit more welcoming," he said.

Cody nodded. "Are we going soon?"

"Yeah. You just need to download the Metro app."

"Metro?"

Noah pulled out his own phone and turned the screen towards Cody. "It's the app the busses use. You can pay for tickets with it."

For some reason, Cody thought they were going to be driving. "Oh, okay." He pulled out his phone. A message from Gwen popped up. He must've gotten it while he was in the shower.

_Lol, what did you do now?_

How was he supposed to respond to that? He couldn't tell her he came here. She would be livid. He had to play it cool.

_I may or may not have struck out with a girl I liked. Seriously bummed. _

The misdirection of it all. He hoped the excuse would stick. He _had_ been rejected multiple times since they broke up, so it was something he could lie about if she asked any questions. He hoped she wouldn't respond, but he knew she was too nice to do that.

He closed the conversation and opened the app store. Metro. "What should I be buying on here?"

"Ehh, depends. You probably want a day pass. Ten dollars," Noah said.

"Done." Cody purchased the ticket. He didn't actually know how the app worked, but he was going to trust Noah on this one. "So, like…" he started, thinking over exactly how to put his next question. "Should we add each other's number? In case I get lost or something."

Noah grinned. "I wouldn't worry about that. But yeah, you can totally have my number." He pulled out his phone and handed it to the other boy.

Cody could feel his face heat up, but he decided not to comment. He took Noah's phone and handed over his own. He pulled up the contacts and added his own name and number.

They swapped back. "Cody Anderson. Nice name."

Cody looked back at his own phone and saw the new contact for "The One and Only Noah." He rolled his eyes.

"Ha! Come on, I need a picture for your contact." Noah put his arm around Cody's shoulder and pulled him closer. He held out his phone, raising it in front of the two. "Say cheese." He leaned his head closer to Cody's, close enough that a stray lock of his hair brushed against Cody's shoulder.

Cody flashed a nervous smile. Noah tapped his thumb on the phone repeatedly, taking picture after picture.

"Let's see," he said, letting go of Cody's shoulder and pulling the pictures up for both to see. "One of them is bound to be good." He began thumbing through each one.

They all looked the same to Cody: not great. "Gross, I look terrified."

"Come on. I think they're cute." Noah looked up at him. "You got this shy, geeky look going on. I dig it."

"I uh… thanks," Cody said.

"Besides, it's just for your contact," Noah replied, putting his phone away. "Now, we should head out. The bean awaits."

* * *

"It's actually called _Cloud Gate_, but I think that's a dumb name," Noah said.

"What's wrong with _Cloud Gate_?" Cody asked, walking up close to see his reflection close up.

"It's not a gate! Just because you can walk through it doesn't mean it's a gate, and don't even get me started on the 'cloud' part. Some artsy fartsy explanation about how it reflects the sky and brings it closer to the viewer. Complete bull. It's just a big metal bean."

Cody stifled a laugh. "You sure have strong opinions about it."

"Yeah, it's a whole thing. I just don't like that it's the big thing about Chicago. Paris has the Eiffel Tower. New York has the Statue of Liberty. Chicago has a shiny bean. Ridiculous."

"That's fair, I guess." Cody chuckled. What a silly thing to get worked up about. He turned back to the sculpture. "Can I touch it?"

"Who's stopping you? They polish it twice a day, so it's probably fine. It's gonna be cold as hell though."

Cody put his hand on the bean and recoiled immediately. He was right; it was cold. He spent a few minutes looking at his face reflected on the surface, moving to check different angles. "You sure do know a lot about it."

"You know what they say. Know thy enemy; know thyself."

Cody snorted. "And this bean is your enemy?"

"It is," Noah replied flatly. "I've sworn vengeance in the name of the city of Chicago. One day, I will wage an unending war on _Cloud Gate_."

"Well, I don't know about all that, but it is pretty overrated."

Noah smirked. "See, I told you." His face flushed with accomplishment, like he had already won his fantasy war against the landmark. "So, what else is on Cody's Chicago bucket list?"

His stomach growled almost immediately, as if it were a comedy beat in a movie. Thankfully, he didn't think Noah noticed. He hadn't eaten since yesterday evening, and even then it was only a small snack from a vending machine he had found before the show. "Actually, I'm really hungry right now. I don't suppose you know any cheap food around."

"A ha! I knew it!" Noah said, pulling out his phone. "Sometimes having a plan does pay off." He proudly presented the phone to Cody.

"Huh? Twenty minutes until what?"

"I put us in line at Wildberry a long time ago. Not only is it highly recommended, it's also right next to the park. My incredible powers of prediction know no bounds."

"Really? Cool! Is it cheap?"

"Well, uh… anything's cheap if someone else is paying for it," Noah said. Before Cody could interject, he added, "And don't argue about it. Just thank divine providence."

Cody put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "No arguments from me."

So they made their way over to the cafe. By the time they arrived, they only had a short wait. They sat down and placed their orders. When their drinks arrived, Cody eagerly started devouring his banana split smoothie.

"Slow down there, cowboy. There's no free refills," Noah said.

"Oh, oops," Cody replied. Truthfully, he was just hungry, but Noah was right. He didn't want to drive up the bill too high. Besides, it'd be nice to have something left when his food came. "Sorry, I have a huge sweet tooth. It's a problem."

"Nah, it's fine, man. I'm no epitome of healthy living myself. I live off pizza and microwave meals."

"That sounds like my kinda life." Cody paused for a moment before taking another drink. "I think most people have a sweet tooth when they're younger and then they grow out of it. For some reason, I haven't yet."

"Don't worry. You have plenty of time to grow up and become boring like the rest of us."

"You're not boring."

"That's true. I like to think I'm interesting in the same way that a natural disaster is. It's just so terrible you can't keep your eyes off of it."

"No way! You're totally cool. I mean genuinely interesting."

"I'm already paying for your food, you don't need to butter me up." Noah winked. He took a sip of his drink—a passionfruit lemonade—and made a face.

"What's wrong? Is it bad?"

"Not really. It's passionfruit, so it's just okay."

"What? Why'd you order it if you don't like it?"

Noah pursed his lips. "I just think it's intriguing."

"The taste?"

"No, just passionfruit. I'm convinced that nobody on the planet has actually eaten a passionfruit, and yet it's a not-uncommon flavor. Like, how come there's so much passionfruit flavor and no passionfruit?"

Cody stared at Noah for a few long moments trying to decipher what he'd just heard. "See, that's interesting! Who orders a drink just because they don't understand why it exists?"

"I don't know, that just sounds like something a weirdo would do to me."

Cody tut-tutted. "No way. What's the difference between weird and interesting anyways?"

"Well." Noah pondered. "I suppose the difference is with the observer. Whether or not they care to know more."

"Then there you go. I'm the observer and I say you're interesting," Cody stated with the conviction to end the debate once and for all.

Noah closed his eyes and nodded. "I guess I'm guilty as charged, then. Too bad being interesting caused me to get this drink."

Their food came out at that moment, prompting Cody to remark on its quickness. It was a Saturday morning though—peak hours for a pancake cafe. They had to be quick if they wanted to keep up with the customers.

Cody had Oreo s'mores pancakes, something he knew in his heart should be reserved for a dessert menu. Eating it for breakfast felt sinfully decadent. Noah had a fig omelet, something he also ordered purely out of intrigue. He'd never had a sweet omelet before. He decided immediately that it was good, an eclectic blend of savory and sweet.

"Tell me, then. What's a day in the life like for Cody?"

"Mostly school and work, to be honest. I think this entire situation makes it seem like my life is more exciting than it really is."

"Dude, there's nothing wrong with steady income. What do you do?"

"I work in a hobby store. Comics, cards, that sort of thing."

"And you like that sort of thing? Or is it just a job?"

"I don't know if working there would be worth it if I didn't."

"Ooo. Do you get free stuff?"

"Not generally, but I do get special promos sometimes. Mostly I just like getting to feel like I'm collecting things without having to spend all the money."

"I hear that. A friend of mine collects those little figurines—the ones with the big heads. I told her never to buy me any because I don't want to start wanting more. Expensive habits."

"Dude, we have so many at the store! An entire room full of them, all their little bug eyes staring darts at you."

Noah chuckled. "I'm sure it's not so bad. I think they're cute."

"You think that until you see the walls full of them. Always watching, plotting. You can never tell what they're thinking."

Noah laughed again, this time in full. It was a nice laugh, a genuine one wholly in the moment. Cody had always loved laughter. It's a feeling of relief, if only for a moment. A short moment of unadulterated joy. Even when life was bad, if you could laugh, you'd have at least those few seconds of escape. And he liked it when he could make others laugh. He liked observing people laughing, seeing how they laughed. How loud they were, if they were faking, if they got lost in the moment of it, how their face looked during. He judged that Noah had a good laugh. Unfiltered and with a bright smile.

"So, creepy doll attendant by day. What do you do in your free time? You can't be all work and no play," Noah asked.

Cody thought for a second. "I don't know. I don't really have any hobbies."

"Literal nonsense. You can't tell me that you get home and just stare at a wall for eight hours a day. Anything's a hobby if you like doing it."

"I guess I like playing video games."

"See, that's a hobby. In case you didn't notice, we have a million consoles in our apartment. So if you want to play, you can," Noah said, then looked to the side nonchalantly. "Or if you want to get absolutely destroyed, I could oblige you."

"Really? I didn't peg you as the type to play."

Noah fake gasped. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean, but I'll completely mop the floor with you."

"You're so on. What games you got?"

"Listen, we've got so many games. Too many to count. The only ones I'm good at are Smash and Mario Kart, though."

"Pffft, so you say you can destroy me but you're only good at two games."

"Yeah, I can totally beat you in Smash or Mario Kart. As far as I'm concerned, those are the only ones that matter."

"So you have too many games to count, but you only play two of them?"

"Hey, I never said that. I said I'm only good at two of them."

"Well, that remains to be seen."

"Keep talking, dude," Noah said, smirking and rolling his eyes. "At any rate, we can play whenever we get done doing whatever you want in the city."

Cody felt a vibration in his pocket. He checked it and read the message from Gwen with a grimace.

_Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that! If you want to talk, I'll be free later tonight._

He put his phone away without responding and looked back up at Noah. He twiddled his thumbs under the table, an unconscious gesture to fill up space while he thought of the best way to word his request. "Actually, I was wondering if we could just go back to yours? The city's just a little, overwhelming right now?"

"Huh? Is everything okay?" Noah asked, concern flashing across his face.

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine. There's just a lot of people around and it gets kind of crazy."

"Alright, man. Like I said, anything you want to do," Noah said. In short order, he received and paid for the check, and the two were off back to his apartment. Cody was silent most of the trip, and Noah decided not to press anything in public. He saw Cody's demeanor change completely when he looked at his phone. It was clear to him there was more going on than Cody let on.

After arriving in the apartment, Cody immediately sat down on the couch, leaned as far back as he could, and let out a small sigh.

Noah sat down as well, on the other end of the L. "So… do you want to talk about it?"

Cody looked up at him. Did he actually want to talk to a stranger about his love life? Well, it seemed rude to think of Noah as a stranger now, after everything he's done for him over the past two days. He settled on 'new friend' instead. Did he want to talk to his new friend about his love life? Noah seemed genuinely concerned, and he hadn't given Cody any reason to doubt him. What's the worst that could happen?

"Actually, yeah. Thanks," he replied. He turned his head around to look down the hall.

"Don't worry about them. Eva's at work right now and Izzy's actually out of town for the weekend."

Cody nodded. "I'm not even sure where to start with this."

"Well, maybe start with what you're feeling right now."

He inhaled a large breath, trying to gather his thoughts. "I feel," he started. "I feel like shit."

"Why do you think you feel that way?"

"I don't know. It just feels like I wasted so much time on this. I've spent so much time thinking about Gwen the last two years. I honestly, honestly don't know if there's been a single time where I haven't felt so lonely since we broke up."

There was a brief pause. "Do you feel that way often?" Noah said slowly, gently.

"I don't know. I guess. It's just so much worse now that I'm here and she's happy with her boyfriend." He paused, catching a breath. "It's like it's permanent now. Like I know now that she's moved on it's never going to go back to how it was."

"What are you trying to go back to?"

"To back in high school when we were still dating. I was so happy then. Back to a time when I didn't feel so _alone_ every night. She was always there for me, and she never judged me. I miss having someone I could really be myself around."

Noah contemplated for a few moments. "Well… Do you love her?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course I love her. We dated for two whole years."

"Of course you loved her then. What I mean is, do you love her now." Noah paused, giving Cody a moment to answer. His only response was a puzzled look. "Wait here, I need to get something important." Noah disappeared in a moment behind his door. About ten seconds later, he was back with a small strip of paper in his hand. "Here, take this. Now, I know this is going to be super cheesy, but read it."

Cody took the paper and spread it out before him. "What is it?

"It's a two-line poem. Just something I do sometimes, but I think this one might help you."

_I know my heart longs not truly for you,_  
_But for the golden lens I see you through._

Cody looked back up at his host. "What does it mean?"

Noah sat back down and looked over at the paper he'd just given away. "It means that sometimes, I think we get so caught up in the memories we have with people that we confuse our feelings for that time with our feelings for them. It's like… playing a game that you loved as a child, but then you realize it's actually not that great. We don't know how much we'd love it now, but we have all these memories of us loving it. At some point, those memories aren't attached to the real thing. It gets replaced by some idealized version of it in our heads. I don't know, maybe I'm way off-mark here. It's just something to think about."

The room was quiet for a few minutes. Cody, lost in deep thought, pulled around different ideas in his head. Was Noah right? Was he in love with some other version of Gwen? She had a boyfriend now, so obviously his idea of her was fundamentally flawed.

"Thanks, actually. I don't know if it's the whole story, but I think you might be onto something," Cody said. "I love Gwen. I really do, she's an amazing person, but…" he trailed off.

"But…?"

"But she's not what I'm missing right now. I miss being in love with someone, and someone being in love with me,' Cody said. He let out a deep, defeated sigh. "But god does that make me feel stupid. If I really came out here for a person I didn't love, then I really need to re-examine my life."

Noah shook his head. "I don't think you did anything wrong. In fact, and this may sound cheesy, but I think the world is undoubtedly a better place because you did what you did."

"How do you figure?"

"Life isn't a movie. Those big moments are a special kind of magic reserved for cheesy romance stories. You're trying to bring that magic into the real world. Just because it didn't work out in the end doesn't make it a bad thing." Noah put a shaky hand on his own knee.

"You really think so?"

"Absolutely. Just know, it makes me happy that people like you exist, people who are willing to at least try to make those magical moments happen. It's kind of, I don't know. Hopeful? I'm sure one day you'll make somebody's wildest dreams come true."

"Thanks… I just wish one day was right now."

"Life's always been a waiting game, man. You'll get there."

"Yeah, I guess." Cody leaned back, sinking his head back into the cushion. "You're really good at love stuff, huh?"

Noah let out a quick, nervous laugh. "No way, man. I'm the last person to ask about relationship stuff. It's just that I've felt that stuff before—at least something close to it."

Cody frowned. "Sorry, man. It sucks."

"Yeah, but we move past it."

"Right. I'll have to start doing that. I think the first step is probably beating you in Smash."

A grin flashed over Noah's face. "You're so on," he said, moving to gather all the necessary materials.

Cody smiled. A soft, content smile. Some therapeutic cartoon violence seemed like just the thing he needed at the moment.


	3. Day 2, Part 2

"Oh my god, stop! _Stop!_" Cody groaned as his character was once again hooked and thrown off the screen by Isabelle. Another win for Noah. "Dude, that's so cheap!"

"Cheap is just what people call things that beat them," Noah said, puffing out his chest. He had been on a solid winning streak for a while now.

Cody sighed. He knew he was outplayed. Noah was better than him. Even without 'cheap' tricks, Noah was better than him. Not by much, though. He was just good enough to squeak out a win every so often, but he could tell he was clearly not as practiced as his opponent. "That doesn't even make sense. Isabelle doesn't fish in Animal Crossing."

"You know what they say- give a dog a fish and she'll eat for a day. Teach a dog to fish and she'll do it the whole game."

"Ha. Ha." Cody rolled his eyes. "I admit defeat, but you're definitely a dirty fighter."

"A win is a win. There's no honor in Smash."

"You're probably right. I should just spam specials."

"Hey, play how you want. It's always about having fun. If you're not having fun, you already lost."

Cody raised his eyebrows. "That's super cheesy. Didn't take you for the type."

"Ah, what? I'm way cheesy. Maybe you're just a bad judge of character."

Cody readjusted his posture, straightening out his spine. He placed his controller onto the tiny amount of free space on the coffee table. "I like to think I'm perceptive about people. You just seem, I don't know, kind of above lines like that."

Noah giggled again. Cody decided he liked that laugh, too. It was a bit deeper than what one might imagine a giggle as, but it had the same innocent airiness to it. "Dude, I write poems. Cheese kind of comes with the territory."

Cody shook his head, brows hunching down in disbelief. "What? Dude, your poems aren't cheesy. Well, the one you showed me wasn't."

"You don't think so? They all sound off to me."

"Well, you are your own worst critic."

"That's true enough." Noah thought for a moment. "What about this one?

"_Not Hera, Adonis, or Ajax the mighty,_  
_Could hope to outshine the fair Aphrodite._

"Cheesy? Or no?"

Cody thought for a moment, running the words over in his head. It was obviously symbolic, but it was Greek mythology. It wasn't too hard to piece together the meaning. "Cheesy sentiment, but the line itself sounds good to me."

"Thanks, I think," Noah said, giving a small smile. "I'm all about cheesy sentiments."

Cody returned the smile. He found Noah's smile quite charming. It was unabashedly happy. Noah had a very expressive face, and Cody delighted in the sincerity of each look. He found the experience captivating—being able to see someone's emotions play out so plainly. He might even call it… cute?

Noah put his controller down beside Cody's and laid his head down on the couch. "They're only supposed to be a start, but I always get bogged down trying to add on to them."

"What do you mean?" Cody asked.

"They're two-line poems. I like them, but it seems like most people are expecting something more. They're supposed to be the start of a more complete poem. Or more accurately, the end."

"So they're just part of a poem? What's the issue with writing more?"

"I don't know. It's weird. If I add to them, it feels like they lose themselves. I think there's something beautiful about them being unfinished."

Cody nodded slightly. "I like them as they are. I'm not a literary critic or anything, but they're really punchy."

Noah sighed, pulling his hands up to rest under his head. "See, you're no help at all. Way too supportive."

"You're right. They're actually terrible. You should probably just give up."

He gave a short laugh. "Oof. Too far the other way. Go back."

"They're great. If people don't like them because they're too short or whatever, maybe that's their issue," Cody said. "You can't please everybody."

"I mean, I can try."

"You can try. And you can fail." Cody let his head fall back into the couch. It sank for a moment, and he could almost imagine himself disappearing into the soft fabric. He checked the time. Five o'clock. He still had two whole days until he could get out of this city and move on with his life. He regarded it as an almost traumatic experience. Of course, it was all his fault for coming here, but his world had basically crashed around him since.

Still, he couldn't say he was having a bad time. He shifted his eyes towards Noah. He looked so peaceful, comfortable in the silence that had come over them. He shook one leg to an inaudible beat, and his fingers wove together, supporting his head. His eyes were closed, his face a tranquil mix of thought and thoughtlessness. At that moment, Cody couldn't say he was unattractive.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Noah kept his eyes closed. "Shoot."

"How do you actually know when you're in love with someone?" Cody asked, eyeing Noah for any reaction. He didn't seem to show any.

"My usual thought is that you know when you know." He opened his eyes, returning Cody's gaze. "However, considering your current situation, that's probably not what you need to hear right now. I don't know, man. I'd say just try to surround yourself with people you like. Hopefully, something new will come up."

"I guess. I just can't seem to get it right now."

"You've got time to figure stuff out. Make some classic college mistakes. Find out what you really want from a relationship."

"That's easier said than done."

"You're telling me. I'm not exactly an expert on these things, so take my advice with a grain of salt."

Cody scrunched up his brow. "But you write poems about it."

"You don't need to know about love to write about it. I just write from my feelings."

"Well, you sure sound like you know what you're talking about."

"I try. I like to think I have a good idea of it in theory. But, like I said before, I'm no good at taking risks, so I don't find much opportunity to put it into practice."

Surprise lit Cody's face. He couldn't wrap his head around the idea that Noah was scared of something like that. Noah was the most outgoing person he knew. "So what if, say, there was someone I had feelings for. What would Noah the love guru recommend I do?"

Noah made a sharp sound, amused and bemused at the title. "Depends if this is a hypothetical. I think the best course of action is normally to make your feelings known, even though I have problems doing that myself," he said. "But right now, I'd have some meaningful concerns about what those feelings are. A day ago you were pretty convinced that you were in love with someone else. Unless you're still talking about Gwen, then…"

"No! No, I'm moving past that," Cody assured. "But I don't want to miss something great because of that."

"Then maybe it's still best to let them know, but be mindful about where those feelings are coming from."

"Alright. I really think this could be something, though. I just don't know if it would ever work out."

"If the feeling's right, then you should definitely go for it."

"You don't think that's bad, starting something you know won't work out?"

"Well, you don't know. Sure, you don't want to go into a relationship hoping it'll end, but life is tricky. It has a knack for turning out a lot differently than you expect. Besides, 'what if's always mess us up later on."

"So I should just bite the bullet, huh? How do you even go about doing something like that?"

Noah grabbed the back of the couch and pulled himself into a sitting position. "Well, different people like different things, but the most important part is being yourself. Don't get too twisted about it."

"I guess… thanks. I'll have to think about it." Cody cast his eyes down and watched his thumbs twiddle. If only Noah knew, then surely his advice would be different. Besides, it was a stupid thought. Just another hopeless idea he needed to suppress.

"Eh, you'll get things figured out. I wouldn't worry about it," Noah said. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting hungry, so we should eat. Anywhere you want to go. You still have the bus pass for the rest of the night."

Cody shifted his gaze to the side, arms tensing. "I don't really know what's around."

"Well, I could show you." Noah furrowed his brow and tilted his head to try and meet Cody's gaze. "Or we could eat in if you don't want to go out."

Cody hesitated a moment. "Yeah. If that's cool with you."

"You're the boss, man. I can order pizza."

"That sounds great," Cody said, pulling himself out of his seat. He noticed Noah's change in tone immediately, and he didn't want to get into it. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

Noah looked dazed for a second, and Cody took the opportunity to exit quickly. "Alright," Noah said, watching the bathroom door close.

Cody heaved a deep sigh of relief once he was safely in the bathroom. He knew he was a little rude, but he decided it was an acceptable risk. He was never all that great about lying, at least not in person. He knew if they had a conversation about it, he'd end up confessing his feelings, and that would never end well. His best bet was just to go on as they had been.

He stared at his reflection. Considering everything that happened, he looked pretty good. He needed to regain his composure, though. He didn't want Noah to worry about him. He turned the faucet on the sink and let the water run over his hand. Withdrawing it, he quickly wiped his face. He grabbed the hand towel by the toilet and went over his face once more. He fixed an imperceptible flaw in his hair but couldn't quite fix it without product. He flushed the toilet to complete the illusion of him using the bathroom and washed his hands.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door. Noah hadn't moved, but he was now thumbing away at his phone.

"Hey! I didn't get to ask what kind of pizza you wanted. I usually get one pepperoni and one sausage," he asked.

"That sounds awesome," Cody replied, trying his best to be nonchalant.

"Cool. I also get free breadsticks."

Cody nodded. He hoped it wouldn't be too expensive, but he figured pizza was the least of the favors Noah had done for him. He ambled across the room to the kitchen table. A window shone behind it. The sun had already set a while ago, but the streetlights outside ensured the scene remained lucent. Cody actually liked big cities at night. Dark buildings make for a great contrast with the abundance of lights. In a way, it was like a starry sky, only up close. It was a nice distraction from everything, a calming sort of view.

Then the front door opened. Cody clenched his teeth hard as Eva walked in. She had on a navy blue headband and tiny beads of sweat covered her body. She gave him a civil expression—he wouldn't exactly call it friendly, but it was definitely not what he expected.

"Hey," she said. "You're Cody, right?"

"Uh, yeah…" he replied.

"Cool. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," he said. It was a pleasant, if uneventful, exchange. If anything it made Cody feel silly for being so scared of her before. He had this odd image of her that wasn't really based on anything. It'd be a good lesson for him if this was another kind of story.

"Hey!" Noah called from the couch. We're having pizza delivered if you want some. My treat."

"You know I don't eat that garbage. I just finished a workout, don't want to ruin it."

"Yeah, but I also got breadsticks."

Eva stopped, thoughtful for just a moment. "I'll always be up for breadsticks. I'm gonna get cleaned up first, though."

Cody watched her close the door to the bathroom, then turned to Noah. "Pizza's too unhealthy, but breadsticks are just fine? Seems a little contradictory."

"Precisely right," Noah said. "If Eva says something is unhealthy, she really means she just doesn't like it. Like it matters. With how much she works out, she can eat whatever she wants."

"She didn't seem like the type to dance around stuff like that."

"Oh? What makes you say that?"

"I don't know. She just has an intense air about her."

"It's the look. Always that look," Noah said, tapping away at his phone. He was playing some game or another, but Cody couldn't make out any details. "But Eva's a lot more human than she lets on."

Cody moved closer to the couch to catch a glimpse of Noah's phone. He saw a ball rolling on a long path. With each touch of Noah's thumbs, the ball would roll towards wherever he pressed it. Ostensibly, the goal was to stay on the path at all times.

"Sorry," Noah said. "It's just something I do to pass time. It's brainless, so while I might seem distracted, I'm totally all ears." He was a bit more perceptive than Cody gave him credit for.

"It's cool. I can't really complain, seeing how much you've already done for me. I can't tell you how thankful I am for everything. I don't know what I'd do if I hadn't met you."

"I'm sure you'd have been fine. Life works itself out. It just happens that I was here to ease the process."

Cody smiled, a private, inward smile. He decided not to press the conversation and simply enjoy the quiet, really empty his mind. He had been thinking far too much in the past week.

Soon enough, the pizza arrived, and Eva returned, ready for delicious carbs. She and Cody had a subdued conversation. She was actually a lot nicer than he had imagined, but Noah assured him later that it was because he was new. If she were comfortable around him, he would get an entirely different, significantly less cordial side of her.

After dinner, in which Noah managed to put away an entire pizza despite his size, Eva retired to her room and the two boys made light, meaningless conversation. They played Mario Kart, and Cody was proud to know that they were more or less evenly matched.

That ended after some hours when Noah decided he, too, needed to head to bed. Cody returned to his temporary home on the couch, but despite his best efforts and considerable time devoted to the task, he couldn't sleep. He stared up at the ceiling, but it was too dark to trace any shapes. The black curtains let in only the thinnest bar of light from the streets, affording him no adequate distractions. He wasn't in the mood for them, anyways.

His mind raced with thoughts about the day. Noah was the sweetest guy he'd ever met, and he couldn't deny there was something there. Maybe he was just rushing to move on from Gwen, but it was still _something_. He was happy when he was with Noah, even though he'd only known him for a day. He realized how crazy it sounded. They had only just met. He knew it wasn't love, but it had the potential to be.

He only had a day and a half left here. Even if Noah felt the same way, it'd be the world's shortest relationship. Was that something he even wanted to deal with? It was a whole other kind of heartbreak.

Noah said he should, though. Life might surprise him, but he knew that was a very big might. Something crazy would have to happen for it to work out. He already broke up with Gwen because long distance was such a crapshoot. He didn't have any reason to believe it would be different with Noah.

What if it was, though? What did he have to lose? If he got rejected hard enough, he could lose a place to sleep tomorrow night, but he already knew he could handle one night alone. It'd hurt, but rejections always hurt. That never stopped him before.

Cody found it odd. He usually never had trouble like this. Even Noah noted that he was impulsive and didn't think things through. Why was it different now? Where did his resolve go?

He grabbed his phone and held it in front of his face. The light hurt for just a second, but he could easily make out the time. Two in the morning. He figured Noah would be asleep, and he didn't hear anything from his room.

Screw it. He was going to do it, and he was going to do it in the most cowardly way possible. It was the only way he could get over his nerves. He was going to text him. He had Noah's number. All he needed was to type out a message. That was a task much easier said than done. He spent about twenty-five minutes composing his text, and it still wasn't to his liking. He figured he wouldn't ever please himself with it, so he decided to hit send before he could second guess himself for the umpteenth time.

_Hey. That person I said I might have feelings for was actually you. Not sure what to do about it._

…

Regret hit him immediately. It was way too weird. "_Not sure what to do about it_"? How do you even respond to that? He briefly contemplated going to Noah's room and deleting the message, but he recognized that that was a terrible idea. Not only would he have to go into Noah's room, but he'd also have to unlock his phone. Completely inappropriate.

He took a few deep breaths to center himself. It wasn't so bad. He didn't regret telling Noah, so that was a start. He could get over the wording if he just calmed down. There was no reason to worry about it now. He just hoped Noah took it in the best light.

He put his phone away. He needed to get some sleep. He'd thank himself in the morning when he was well-rested for what was sure to be an emotionally exhausting conversation.

**~A/N~**

**Shorter chapter, my apologies. If you're enjoying the story, let me know! **


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